Maverick Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Hi all. I'm a bit of a technical/DIY novice. I've been trying to give my bass a decent home setup job, but one problem I was unable to solve that I've had for a while is that it's quite sharp at the first fret on the lowest two strings (I'm tuned down to C sharp currently, but the problem was also present when it was in standard tuning). The intonation is pretty much spot on everywhere else, including the 2 higher strings at the same fret. To be honest, it's never really been a big problem as I very, very, very rarely use these two notes (so yes, I've been a bit lazy as to getting it sorted), but I do have to record a song soon in which I pretty much have to use one of them, and it just seems sensible to try and sort it. Does anyone have an idea what could cause this? One suggestion I have read elsewhere is that the nut is cut too high, is this likely it? Would there be any way to verify it without just taking the plunge and filing/cutting it down, and how would one go about doing so properly if that is the fix? Or am I just best off not messing with it and getting it seen to by a pro? This may be a problem, as I'm rather short on cash at the mo Cheers all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbyrne Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 The suggestion of the nut being too high sounds good to me. If you hold any string down between the 2nd & third frets, it should only *just* be clear of the 1st fret - literally the proverbial cigarette paper thickness. If this distance is noticably greater on your bass, then that's probably at least contributing to the problem. G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 [quote name='geoffbyrne' post='1098241' date='Jan 21 2011, 11:47 PM']The suggestion of the nut being too high sounds good to me.[/quote] +1 If the nut is too high then pushing the string down will stretch it (raising the pitch) before it gets to make contact with a fret. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS73 Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 If that's not the case and it seems ok, then it's the string cut on the nut, basically the string could be sat at the back of the nut, where it should be sat at the very front edge, making your first fret longer by a nut width, check there is an actual angle in the slots, if not then you'll need to file the back of the slot, so it peaks/rises to the front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 [quote name='SS73' post='1098320' date='Jan 22 2011, 03:17 AM']If that's not the case and it seems ok, then it's the string cut on the nut, basically the string could be sat at the back of the nut, where it should be sat at the very front edge, making your first fret longer by a nut width, check there is an actual angle in the slots, if not then you'll need to file the back of the slot, so it peaks/rises to the front.[/quote] +1. I bought a new Martin guitar that had intonation problems on the first few frets, which was caused by the nut slots not being cut right, so the highest point within the slot was somewhere in the middle, not right at the front. I'm not sure how you check this (I took it back to the shop under guarantee and got their guitar tech to sort it out) but it's definitely worth investigating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Posted January 22, 2011 Author Share Posted January 22, 2011 Thanks for the responses guys; [quote name='geoffbyrne' post='1098241' date='Jan 21 2011, 11:47 PM']The suggestion of the nut being too high sounds good to me. If you hold any string down between the 2nd & third frets, it should only *just* be clear of the 1st fret - literally the proverbial cigarette paper thickness. If this distance is noticably greater on your bass, then that's probably at least contributing to the problem. G.[/quote] It does look like that there's a bit of excess clearance there so this may indeed be part of the problem. Guitard has some files he says should be suitable for the job so going to try and get a borrow of them and see if I can sort/improve the situation. Cheers all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbyrne Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 (edited) This sounds OK, however, I've found guitar nut slot files too narrow for bass slots & make for a finniky(?) job to file out the width smoothly. I went to Maplins (or B&Q) & bought a set of hobbiest's needle files. I find the tapered round file almost perfect for this. Remember to leave a slight slope from bridge end to headstock end, to ensure you get the break point right at the front of the nut, otherwise intonation goes to pot. G. Edited January 23, 2011 by geoffbyrne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.